🇴🇲 Sultanate of Oman (عُمان)
Visiting: Take careLGBT visiting: High Risk
Oman is safe to visit, with a few things to know first. Same-sex relationships are criminalised, which places it 122nd for LGBT rights, so LGBT travellers should weigh this carefully. On the other side of the ledger, violent crime is close to non-existent, the 3rd-lowest homicide rate, and women's safety is good, at 24th. Where it lags is conflict: there is significant exposure, placed 133rd.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Oman: 0.1
Ranked 3rd in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
A tenth of a killing per 100,000 people a year is about the lowest rate anywhere and far under the one that marks the safest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
As close to zero risk as a visitor gets.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Oman: 11.0
Ranked 76th in the world for the safest roads.
Why this rank?
Eleven deaths per 100,000 people a year is under the world average of fifteen but past half of it.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Below the world average, with a fifth of the deaths people on foot.
Conflict
Conflict deaths inside the country in the last twelve months, as recorded by the Uppsala conflict database, civilians killed on purpose, and any UN sanctions or court order over a war. The worst of those sets the colour. Lower is better.
Oman: 2.61
Ranked 48th most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
Seven people died in fighting inside Oman in the year to July 2026, five of them civilians killed on purpose.
Is it safe to visit?
Seven people died in Oman in the year to July 2026, five of them civilians killed in a United States strike and the rest from the Iran war.
Freedom
Six freedoms rated 0–4 by Freedom House — protest, speech, press, religion, movement and due process. The weakest rating sets the colour, and the total places the country inside it — higher is better.
Oman: 5.16
Ranked 55th least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Oman 5 of the six freedoms are rated 1 and the rest higher. Total 7 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
A hereditary monarchy with power concentrated in the sultan. Criticism and dissent carry criminal penalties. A visitor who keeps out of politics is left alone.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Oman: Illegal
Ranked 59th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Sex between men carries up to three years under the penal code. Any criminal law is red.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe to be open. Little public enforcement, total social silence. The subject barely exists in public life.
Women's Safety
Women's safety — feeling safe out at night, political violence against women, a fair hearing in court, and how normal violence at home is, with the night figure setting a floor on the colour — higher is better.
Oman: 8.51
Ranked 24th safest country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Ninety percent of women feel safe walking alone at night. What keeps it from a higher score is the courts, rated only fair for women.
Is it safe to visit?
Oman is a safe country for a woman travelling alone.